Starter mechanism



2 Sheets--Sheet 1 R. P. LANSING STARTER MECHANISM Filed Nov. 4, 1930 March 26, 1940.

INVENTOR. MozQHL Ray ai( in?. Hof/5.15% ATTORNEY` March 26,1940. P ANSWG' 2,195,151

STARTER .MECHANI su Filed Nov. 4, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENToR a mozza/Hlmzszrzy.

ATTORNEY. y

Patented Mar. 26, 1940 UNITED STATES rivm-N1* oFFlcE Eclipse Aviation Corporation,

East Orange,

N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application November 4, 1930, Serial No. 493,397'

4 Claims.

This invention relates to starting mechanisms, and more particularly to starters for engines of the internal combustion type.

One of the objects of the invention is to' provide in an engine starter, novel means for producing engagement between the cranking member and a member of the engine to be started.

Another object is to provide in an engine starter of the inertia type, novel means for controlling the cranking and acceleration of the inertia member.

Another object of the invention is to provide means serving to establish a definite relationship between operation of the accelerating and engagement producing means above referred to.

Still another object is to provide novel electrically controlled means for achieving the objections above set forth.

A further object is to provide novel means for rendering starting of the engine by a starting mechanism less diiiicult, such means being supplemental to the .inertia controlled starting mechanism.

A further object is to provide means for operating said supplemental means as in incident to the operation of the means for producing engagement between the cranking member and the engine'. K

Still another object is to provide supplemental means for the purpose above stated, which means shall be operative to facilitate proper ignition of the ring charge in the combustion chamber or chambers of the engine to be started.

A- further object is to provide means of the foregoing character which shall be operable coincidently with the operation of the engagement producing means above referred to.

Still another object of the invention is to provide novel circuit controlling means for operating said ignition facilitating means.

A further object is to provide novel circuit controlling means for producing joint operation of said ignition facilitating means'and said engagement producing means. t

Another-object is to produce apparatusof the foregoing character which is of relatively simple construction readily accessible, and positive in its operation.

Other objects and advantages to be derived from the use of the invention disclosed will become evident on an inspection of the following description when made with reference to the -accompanying drawings` illustrating one embodiment of the invention. It is to be expressly understood however that said drawings are for the purpose of illustrationl only and are not to be construed as a denition of the limits of the invention, reference being had to the appended claims for this purpose.

In the drawings:

Fig., 1 is a view in elevation, with parts sectioned, of ari-apparatus embodying-the invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a schematic controlling means; and

Fig. 4 is an end view of portions shown in Fig. 1.

Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals indicate like parts throughout the several views, and more particularly to Fig. 1, the starting mechanismof the present invention is shown as comprising a suitable casing embodying anrinner end section 2, suitably secured as by meansof screws 3 to the crank view of certain parts shown in diagram oi Athe electrical secured to section 2 by screws 6, and an outerend section I secured to the intermediate section 5 by means of bolts 8. An end plate or diaphragm 9, preferably integral with the intermediate casing section 5, carries means for supporting a flywheel I2 of relatively small size and light weight, and adapted for high speed rotation so as to store energyA therein for cranking the engine. Y

The energy stored in the rapidly rotating ywheel is transmitted to the engine to be started through a suitable train of reduction gearing, comprising, in the form shown, a stub shaft' I3 extending through the hub of the flywheel l2 and rotatable therewith.- A small pinion I6 formed on the inner end of the stub shaft I3 meshes with a relatively largepinion l1 formed on the periphery of a bell-shaped member I8, the latter being rotatably mounted on a tubular portion 2| of the transverse plate 9. A small pinion inner end of the member I8 22 formed on the meshes with a relatively large internal gear 23 which is rotatably mounted by means of a hub portion 24 on a. short hollow shaft 25 which extends outwardly from the closed end of a cylindrical member or barrel 26. A pinion 21 formed on the hub portion 24 constitutes a sun gear which meshes with a plurality of planetary gears, preferably three in number, one of which is shown in section at 28, and said planetary gears in'turn mesh with a ring gear 29' secured to the casing by screws 30. The planetary gears 28- are preferably mounted on the closed end of -case 4 of the engine, an intermediate section 5 the'barrel 26 by means of ball bearings 3| having centering sleeves 32 that extend into recesses in the closed end of the barrel 26 and are held in place by screws 33 and a retaining ring 34.y

Rotation of the ilywheel I2 is transmitted by the train of gearing above described to the barrel 26 and causes rotation of the latter. Rotation of the barrel 26 is ixr turn transmitted through'a yieldable driving connection to ajaw 36 that is adapted to be displaced axially to engage a corresponding jaw 31 secured to shaft 38 of the engine to be started. In the form shown, the yieldable driving connection isvconstituted by a fric- 'tion clutch 29 of the multiple disc type which is positioned within the rotatable barrel 26. A plurality of the clutc'h discs, which are annular in form, are splined at their outer peripheries to the inner .surface of barrel 26, and the remaining clutch .discs are splined at their inner peripheries to the outer surface of an interiorly threaded nut 46. The clutch discs are held between the closed end of barrel 26 and a flange 4I formed on the nut 46.

Suitable yielding means are provided for maintaining the clutch discs in frictional engagement with one another, which means is preferably' adjustable whereby the amount of torque transmitted by the clutch may be varied. For this purpose a plurality ofcoil springs 42 bear against the flange 4I, the springs being held in position by means of pins 43 carried by a spacer ring 44.

. 'I'he tension of the springs may be adjusted by means of an adjusting nut 45 threaded in the barrel 26. y

A threaded shaft 46 is positioned within the interiorly threaded nut 46 and is adapted for relative rotary and longitudinal movement therein. 'I'he outer end of the shaft 46 carries a stop nut 41 adapted to engage an interior shoulder on the nut 46 to limit the longitudinal movement of the shaft, and a portion of the shaft adjacent its inner end is provided with longitudinal splines which engage corresponding splines formed on the interior of a hub portion 48 formed integrally with the jaw 36. A light coil spring 46 is interposed between the shaft 46 and the Jaw 36, the outer extremity of said spring being preferably seated in a recess formed in the shaft.

The novel means employed for axially displacing the jaw 36 to engage jaw 31 comprises, in the form shown, a rod 56 passing centrally throughthe hub 25, barrel 26, shaft 46 and jaw 36, andi-is provided intermediate its ends with a shoulder 5I engaging the outer end of the shaft 46 and on its inner end with a nut 52. 'I'he rod 56 .is adapted to be displaced by novel mechanism extending externally of the starter casing, such mechanismconstituting an important part of the present invention to be described more fully hereinafter.

It is desirable to provide means whereby the engine may be 'cranked and started by hand, and

' in the present instance said means embodies a hand cranking shaft disposed substantially at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the starter and drivably connected with the reduction gearing near its low speed end-by the provision of a suitable gear (not shown) adap to mesh with bevel gear 53 mounted on the end of shaft 26; the actuating gear being carried in the usual manner by the casing 5, on a cranking shaft projecting outwardly from the starter casing and provided with a suitable hand crank whereby the bevel gear 53 may be rotated to drive barrel 26 through theirain of--gearingabove A The means for cranking and accelerating the ywheel I2 by power, in the embodiment shown, comprises the usual electric motor mounted in section 59 of casing 1 and having the end of its armature shaft 66 provided with a threaded portion 6I engaging a correspondingly internally threaded clutch member 62 normally held out of engagement with a complementary clutch member located within the housing 63 and operatively secured to the flywheel I2 to rotate the latter when the screw shaft 6I is moved forward by the rotation of clutch member 62 and shaft 66 in response to energization of the motor.

The novel means for controlling the engagement producing members 56, 5I and 36 to produce cranking of the engine shaft 38 after the ywheel has been accelerated and the motor 53 de'energized, comprises in the embodiment shown an electro-magnetic device 16 mounted by suitable means upon the member 1I; the member 16 containing two coils 12 and 13 with which are associated a pair of magnetizable cores 15 and 16 and a plunger rod 14 secured to the core piece 15 by suitable means as indicated at 16 so as to` be movable toward the iixed pole piece 15a upon the occurrence of a similar movement of the core piece 15 in a response to the magnetic pull exerted by the coil 13 upon energization thereof by the means to be described. The members 15 and 16 being keyed one to the other, as shown at 11, energization of coil 12 will cause va reverse movement of plunger rod 14, toward pole piece 16a.

Means are provided for transmitting a longitudinal movement of the plunger rod 14 to the shaft 56 and member 36 to produce'v engagement between the latter member and the engine member 38. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2 such means preferably includes a rocker arm 18 adapted to swing about afulcrum or xed pivot member 19 mounted upon the member 16, the arm 18 connecting at one end with the plunger 14 through a suitable connecting member' 83. The other end of arm 18 is shown as pivoted by suitable means 86 to an adjustable link Il which in turn is connected by suitable pivot means to one end of a bell crank member 82, the central portion of which is secured to the upper end of rod 34 which extends vertically through the upper wall of casing 5 in which it is guided by a suitable boss or hub 36, the 'lower end of the rod being provided with a shifting fork 81 adapted to receive a pin 8l extending through a suitable opening in shaft 58.

From the foregoing it will be apparait that the connecting members just referred to will transmit the longitudinal displacement of the plunger rod14totheshaft56tocauseacorresponding displacement thereof, whereupon the driving member 36 is resiliently urged into driving engagement with the jaw 31. A manually operable rodll'maybelinkedtothebellcranklas indicated in Fig. 2, to permit actuation of the means by hand when desired.`

Referring further to the means associated with the plunger rod 14, it is desired to provide means normally tending to maintain the rod Il in the position shown in Fig. 1, in which position the member 36 is out of engagement with the mem-l ber 31. As shown, such means comprises prefer-l ably a Vcoiled spring 33 mounted eoaxlally with a larger'spring 6I in the thimble member 62, the oppositefend of the spring 88 against the und of the'plunger--rod 14 and actingto main- 7| tain the plunger 14 normally in the central position indicated.

In addition to the function of actuating the members 50 and 36, the plunger rod 14 has an additional function of controlling the means for energization of the ywheel actuating motor. As shown in Fig. 1 such means preferably comprises a circuit controlling switch plate 95 mounted near the outer end of plunger rod 14 and movable into contact with the stationary contact members indicated at 96 and 91 and connected to the terminal posts 98 and 99 respectively, constituting .terminals for the conductors and |0|,'the latter leading tothe post |02 of motor 5,9 and the former being connected to a suitable source of current, represented at |03 in Fig. 3:

From the foregoing it will be evident that a displacement ,of the member 14 to the left (on the actuation of means to be described) as viewed in Fig. 1 will produce a corresponding movement of the member 95 into engagement with the contacts 99 and 91, thereby closing a circuit to energize the motor 59, the circuit being traceable in Fig. 3 along a path starting from the source |03 and passing by way of vconductors |00 and |00 to terminals 98 andI 99, thence by way of conductor IUE to the windings of motor 59 and thence to the ground by way of conductor |05.

The means for controlling the alternate energization of coils 12 and 13 preferably comprises a switch structure designated generally by the reference character |09 and including two sets of stationary contact members shown at H0, H2, and H3, the former two being adapted to be bridged by the collar H of suitable conducting material and the latter two being adapted to be bridged by the collar H6, the circuits through the said members being normally open by reason of engagement with the insulated portions H1 and H0, respectively, the members ||1 and i9 being normally held in the positions indicated by the actions of springs |69 and |20.

With the foregoing in mind, it will be apparent that upon movement of the operating member |22 to the right as viewed in Fig. 1 engagement will be eected between the members H5, H0

ber 95 to bridge the contacts 96 and 91. This in turn closes the circuit to the motor 59 previously traced. The resulting rotation of the armature shaft 50 of the motor causes the clutch memvber 62 to rotate and move forward into engagement with the complementary member to drive the ywheel |2, the rotation of the flywheel be.

ing transmitted through the train of reduction gearing above described to barrel 29 and, through the friction disc 29, to the shaft i5 and vmember 30.

As soon as the flywheel has reached the desired speed the member |22 is again manually actuated, being pushed to the left to cause a bridging of the contacts ||2 and ||3 by the member H9. At the same time, this movement withdrawsthe member |5 fromthe contacts H0 and Hl. Thiswwithdrawal operates to break the circuit to the coil 12 which in turn permits the spring 90 to force the contact maker 95 out of engagement with the contacts 95 and 91 thereby interrupting the circuit to the motor 59 and deenergizing the said motor. At the same time the engagement of collar H6 with the members H2 and H3 operates to close a circuit to the coil 13, this circuit being traceable in Fig. 3 along a path leading from the source |03 by'way of conductors |04 and |29 to the contacts H2, H6 and H3, thence by way of conductor |30 to the winding of coils 13, from which point the circuit returns to the ground by way of conductor |3|. This energization of the coil 13 serves to draw the plunger 14, to the right thereby actuating the rod 50 and moving the jaw 36 into driving engagement with the jaw 31 in the manner above explained.

Novel means are provided for increasing the igniting power' in the combustion chambers of the engine simultaneously with the operation of the jaw engaging means just described. In the preferred form as illustrated in the drawings such means comprises a circuit interrupting device commonly known as a vibrator, and means for actuating the said vibrator coincidently with the energization of solenoid 13. Such vibrator is shown in Fig. 1 as mounted on a suitably supported casing |50, containing a core or plunger |5| adapted to be actuated by the creation of magnetic forces in the coil |52, such coilconsisting of the usual primary and secondary Windings indicated schematically at |53 and |56, in

Fig. 3; the construction being such that upon each interruption of the circuit at the contacts |56 and |51, the resulting breakdown of the magnetic eld of the primary winding |53 causes the passage by induction of a relatively high potential current through the secondary winding |54,

thereby creating a jump-over spark at the ignition points in the engine cylinder represented at |58 in the schematic drawing, such spark being repeated at each vibration of the arm |59. 'I'he result is a series of rapidly repeated sparks, the vibrations being so rapid that the. effect is practically a continuous spark for a length of time suillcient to produce combustion of the charge in the engine cylinder and hence a starting of the engine under its own power.

The novel means 'for causing the operation of the foregoing ignition facilitating means simultaneously with the operation of the jaw engaging meanspreviously described comprises an electric circuit to the vibrator, adapted to be closed by the same operation of switch |22 which causes energization of the coil 13. Any desired electrical arrangement of the circuits may be utilized for eifectingv such simultaneous energization of the members 13 and |53, but in the preferred form as illustrated this result is achieved by wiring these two members in parallel relation electrically, as for example by' means of the conductor '|62 leading from the terminal post |10 to the terminal post |63 for the primary winding |53 of the vibrator, the circuit then returning to the ground by alternate paths in response to veach vibration of the arm |59, the path being 'either by way of conductor |60 or by way of the spark electrodes |59.

There is thus provided, in combination with the engine cranking mechanism, novel means for increasing the igniting power of the engine coincidently with the operation of the means for f producing engagement between the driving member of the engine cranking mechanism and the power shaftof the engine. There is alsoproduced novel means for effecting joint operation of said ignition facilitating means and said cranking means, such j oint operation being produced by the use of a relatively simple and inexpensive arrangement of electrical circuits and parts which does not in any way interfere with the use of any of the conventional types of starting mechanisms. In this connection it will be noted that although only the inertia type of starting mechanism has been specically illustrated, it will beapparent that the invention is equally well adapted for. u se with any of the other known types of starters wherein electric'or electro-magnetic means are employed for producing the actuating power for the engaging means or for controlling the operation of such engaging means.

Various other changes may be made in the construction, arrangement and inter-relation of the parts constituting the invention without departing from the spirit thereof, it being understood that although only one embodiment of the invention has been illustrated the same is not limited to theV form shown. Reference will therefore be' had to the appended claims for a delinition of the limits of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In an engine starter, in combination with a member of an engine to be started, an-'engine engaging member adapted to engage and crank said engine member, means including an electric motor for rotating said engine engaging member,

auxiliary means for facilitating the starting of said engine under its own power, means for moving said engine engaging member into cranking position, anda source of electric current for ergizing the moving means for said driving m ber said source of electric current also' constituting the energizing means for said auxiliary means, and means for disconnecting said electric motor from said source simultaneously with the establishment of connection between said source and said auxiliary means.

2. In an engine starter, in combination with a member of the engine to be started, a clutch member adapted to engageV and crank said engine member, means for rotating said clutch member, means for moving said clutch member into driving engagement with said engine'member following actuation of said rotating means, a combined current source and circuit control means for starting said engine under its `own power, and means for jointly operating said clutch moving means and said combined current source and circuit control means.

3. In combination with an internal combustion engine having means for producing ignition of the combustible charge therein, a circuit constituting part of said ignition producing means, a switch in said circuit, means for causing said switch to vibrate to and from open and closed positions, clutch means movable into engagement with a member of said engine, means for rotating said clutch means, and means for preventing simultaneous energization of said clutch rotating means and said vibrating means.

4. In an engine starter, in combination 'with a member of. the engine to be started, means includinganelectric motor an'd a motor driven clutch for cranking the engine member, an electrical circuit, including means for assisting in the starting of said engine under its own power, and further including a switch for electrically connecting said electrical circuit with said electric motor, and 'means for preventing energization of Said assisting means so long as said switch is in the motor energizing position.

' RAYMOND P. LANSING. 

